Three RV industry veterans have formed a new company – Heritage One Inc. – to build Due West travel trailers that are expected to begin shipping in mid- April.

“We are currently seeking dealers and everything is in the process to get our Canadian approvals,” said Steve Smith, vice president of sales and marketing and a former Monaco Coach Corp. executive.

Other owners of the new firm are President Paul Miller, formerly with Newmar Corp., and Vice President of Production Tony Newman, formerly with Travel Supreme.

“The economy concerns us, but this is the industry that all of us have been in pretty much our full careers,” Smith said. “And we have access to extremely skilled employees. With what’s happening in the RV industry, everybody is headed for towable products.”

Operating out of a 60,000-square-foot factory in Nappanee, Ind., Heritage One will offer Due West travel trailers in five 24- to 33-foot wood-and-aluminum floorplans with up to two slideouts. The company primarily will market Due West east of the Rockies because of transportation costs.

“The thing that distinguishes us is that we did an extreme in-depth study of the product that is out there being offered and what has been successful in the marketplace,” Smith said. “We’ve done our own spin on the most popular floorplans. One of the things that surprised us was it wasn’t the least expensive models that were seeing the most success.”

Smith said a void has been left on dealers’ lots with the recent bankruptcy of Monaco and Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. and Pilgrim International Corp. closing down.

“There are a lot of dealers out there wondering what product lines they’re going to fill those gaps with,” Smith said. “And stick-and-tin towables are still having some success in the marketplace.”